Another TSA Security Goof? Details of Air Marshal Guns

Sig Sauer, a weapon manufacturer with a facility in Exeter, has secured a multi-million-dollar contract to deliver pistols to the Federal Air Marshal Service.

ABC News Photo Illustration

With the approval of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Sig Sauer gun company has released specific information about the model of pistol that Federal Air Marshals will soon be carrying – data that both current and former Air Marshals say puts the Marshals and air passengers at risk.

"This is the last thing you want to give to anyone who wants to carry out an act of terror," said Frank Terreri, president of the Federal Air Marshal Agency, a trade group representing the Marshals. "Anyone who wants to take over a plane can be proactive and research that type of weapon, basically know everything about that weapon before going on the plane," said Terreri. "You really don't want to give that playbook out to your enemy."

John Adler, president of the National Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents officers from more than 65 federal agencies, including the Federal Air Marshal Service, said the gun information was part of "an alarming pattern of disclosures" by the TSA that only serves to jeopardize the safety of the [Air Marshals]."

The disclosure comes on the heels of a massive security breach in which the TSA published online an improperly redacted manual that revealed sensitive information about air passenger screening.

The Sig Sauer company announced via press release late last week that it had signed a multimillion dollar contract to equip the Air Marshals with its .357 SIG caliber P250 Compact pistol. In the release, the company said the "innovative design concept of the P250 pistol is developed around a serialized modular frame and fire control assembly."

Bud Fini, vice president for marketing at Sig Sauer, defended the decision to publicize the deal. Fini said the release that he sent out was approved by the Air Marshals. "They changed it slightly, but there was no sensitive information in it," said Fini. "I don't think it's that big of a deal."

Weighing the Risk to the Air Mashals

Adler said that he disagrees: "The agency should make every effort to protect not only the anonymity of the Air Marshals but the equipment they use and their operational protocol."

A spokesperson for the TSA told ABC News that the release of the information did not create a risk for Marshals and travelers. "Publicizing the type of firearm a Federal Air Marshal uses does not provide a security advantage for those with ill intentions," said Greg Soule.

He also defended Sig Sauer's decision to publicize its contract. "The information in the Sig Sauer press release is based on publicly available information," said Soule. When asked where the information was publicly available prior to the press release, Soule said he meant that information about the Marshals' previous firearm had been published in the media, that the new contract was available via FOIA request to the public, and that Sig Sauer was not barred from disclosing data about the new firearm.

A second TSA spokesperson was blunter. "It's not SSI," said Nelson Minerly, referring to the designation Sensitive Security Information. "I don't have to come up with excuses as to why it's not SSI." Much of the data revealed in the improperly redacted screening manual had been deemed SSI.